The high cost of food is a problem everyone deals with in today’s economy.  However, the situation has unique challenges for large group residential treatment settings working on a restricted budget.  

Hope Haven Recovery Center in Franklin, Kentucky is a residential substance abuse facility which is comprised of a men’s house and a women’s house.  Each house averages 10 to 12 people in various stages of recovery, with each client staying for a 6-month period.  Over an 18-month period of providing multiple series of Healthy Choices for Your Recovering Body, it was identified that program participants’ diets were lacking in fruits and vegetables.   Upon probing to determine the reason for the deficiency, participants repeatedly stated that they were told the cost for fresh fruits and vegetables was prohibitive to the grocery budget of the facility.  Most participants expressed a desire to have fresh produce, especially fruits, as they recognized the benefit of avoiding processed foods with added sugars to satisfy cravings during the recovery process.   However, a large portion of the grocery items purchased consisted of costly packaged and processed foods which provided sparse nutritional content.

In attempt to understand the shopping habits and dietary planning of the facility, a meeting was held with the owner/community partner to fact-find how meals are planned, prepared, and purchased.  It was confirmed that fresh produce was not provided due to cost issues.  Upon further inquiry, the partner shared that the average weekly grocery bill for each house was approximately $700-800.   Menu planning and meal preparation for evening dinner was performed by clients on a rotating basis, with grocery lists created based on the client’s menu plan and shopping performed by clients with supervision of the house manager.  Breakfast options were limited to pastries, cereals and oatmeal; lunches were mainly sandwiches with deli meats.  An offer was made to meet with the clients and managers of each house to discuss meal planning techniques and substitutions that could be made to trim the grocery bill as well as increase nutritional options, which delighted the community partner.

In preparation for this meeting, a sample menu for 3 daily meals for 7 days including recipes from planeatmove.com and concepts of MyPlate was created.  Using Walmart’s grocery app, ingredients were added to the digital cart in quantities sufficient to provide for 12 people.  Staple pantry items and supplies such as bread, milk and eggs were included.  Not included in the sample list were cleaning, hygiene, and paper products.     Substitutions for items typically purchased such as breakfast pastries and lunch meats were made consisting of eggs, fresh fruits, and low-fat/low sugar yogurt as well as salad recipes.  Snacks such as potato chips were replaced with nuts, fresh vegetables, and whole-grain crackers.  The use of unused commodity items such as rice and beans was encouraged.   Total cost of all items in the cart was $281 (per house).

Upon meeting with each household, the planeatmove.com website was introduced and its various features demonstrated.  Each person was encouraged to navigate the site and explore recipes using category and ingredient tabs.  Participants were excited to see the vast array of recipe options and were eagerly choosing their future menus.  The sample menu was reviewed and the Walmart grocery app demonstrated, with the $281 cost for all items displayed.

As a result of these meetings, the community partner agreed to allow participants to purchase limited quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables on a trial basis to see how the weekly budget was affected.  Participants and house managers were excited to share that the grocery bill came in under budget after undertaking the strategies demonstrated.  Clients were excited to report that they were successfully using commodity products in their menus and were enjoying having fresh fruit available.

With the newfound knowledge of the clients regarding healthy, nutritious meal planning with limited budget resources, it is anticipated that Hope Haven will continue to make strides to improve dietary choices as well as to lower the grocery spending.  As well, residents will leave Hope Haven and provide for their families with the same techniques, perpetuating nutritious eating habits and wise spending patterns in the future generation.